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It's only a guilty pleasure if you feel shame. So when someone throws on Ini Kamoze or maybe some early Mariah, there's nothing guilty about it if you can't help busting a move.

"The validity of a well-crafted contemporary pop song was being questioned," says John Ehrens, one half of a new project called Dungeonesse. "People like to say 'guilty pleasure,' but we both agree it's nothing to be ashamed of. There's merit to this sort of venture."

Who is Dungeonesse and just what is their venture? From the initial sounds of the first single, Drive You Crazy, maybe this musical duo doesn't seem different from the latest shiny face off the pop production line. But listen a bit longer. Ehrens has been a part of many successful Baltimore bands (most recently White Life). And his partner in this venture? None other than Jenn Wasner. Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak — Wye Oak of 2011's top album Civilian — Civilian of excellent heavy, brooding rock songs. If there is modern pop music to believe in, Dungeonesse will be the songwriting pair creating it.

It's a clear sonic departure, so why take such a risk? For starters, they had each other.

"It made us more comfortable to work with each other on this kind of material, because other people might venture into the absurd or comedic with this kind of thing," Ehrens says. "It's not a joke or a throwaway thing for us, we really took care with it. We're lucky to meet one another and agree it's something we should do."

Wasner adds the duo's mutual desire in songwriting is what really pulled this together. They don't just love performing music, but they enjoy writing it in a variety of styles. Think of them as a pair of musicians aspiring to be Bernie Taupin and not only Elton John.

"At the heart of what I do regardless of what it sounds like, it's a song-based craft for me," Wasner says. "Depending on the songs I'm writing or the intentions I have, the way they sound and the way they're arranged can mutate or vary. People hear something that's different and assume it's a departure on every level, but for me, songwriting is at the heart of this project like it is for the rest of what I work on."

The nostalgics among us are simply lucky that Wasner and Ehrens' newest project overlaps with fond musical memories. She notes both of them are children of the '90s, so their unconscious minds likely soaked that style in. Close your eyes and listen to this play list of some memorable '90s dance pop (if you have more suggestions, toss them in the comments or on Twitter, #PCAsks). These tracks have all the familiar touches: heavy electronic voicings, foot-tapping backbeats, infectious vocal hooks — even the occasional lyrical breakdown (and that may be the most important '90s-dance pop characteristic). Can you pick out the song released last week?

"Looking back, a lot of the best songs of that era — regardless of how they sound — really do transcend and as a song and really do stand up. That was what we were going for," Wasner says. "I'm certainly reliving a lot of my youthful fantasies growing up listening to Mariah Carey and trying to re-create these vocals, realizing just how hard singing really is. It's made us better songwriters and musicians in general working on this together."

Last week Dungeonesse released their first EP. It's an A-side/B-side really, "for the club" as Ehrens puts it. But the band does have a debut LP completed and it's due in 2013. Ehrens calls Drive Me Crazy the most sticky, sweet track of the bunch. Wasner points out the whole album isn't "10 straight party bangers," but "it's inherently catchy, even the more heart wrenching songs are chalk full of hooks."

"When your intentions are so clear — a fun song people might want to hear, people want to dance to — you don't want to have parts people can get bored by," Ehrens adds. "So every little sec of every little song we wanted to be compelling."

Ultimately, the goal for Dungeonesse isn't to reign as pop's supreme. Wasner notes they don't have grander visions of competing with Rihanna or Katy Perry. They want to make catchy, compelling music, but even 'catchy' gets tricky. "There are catchy songs I hate," Ehrens concedes. "LMFAO's Party Rocking comes on and it's like poison but it still gets stuck in my head."

So for both Wasner and Ehrens it comes back to what they felt from the pop songs of yore. That was when supreme songwriting met an undeniable track. What's then born is a song that stands the test of time and can turn heads regardless of when you hear it.

"My greatest hope for this project is that people don't allow the sonic choices we made to obstruct their ability to see these songs as genuine," Wasner says. "They really are some works I'm proudest of as a songwriter, so I hope people aren't so distracted that they mistake them for disingenuous or trite."

"More so," Ehrens adds, "we hope Drive You Crazy comes on during a party in 10 years and people love that song."